This invention relates to a transportation system which comprises a continuously moving traction cable circulating between stations and pulls carriers, such as cable cars, gondolas, lift chairs and the like for personal or freight use. The carriers are adapted to be uncoupled from the cable in an uncoupling zone at the entrance of each station and coupled to the cable in a coupling zone at the exit of each station. The transportation system further has a transfer rail assembly leading from the uncoupling zone to the coupling zone while passing through an unloading (freight discharging or passenger disembarking) zone and a loading (freight charging or passenger boarding) zone.
In establishing transportation systems of the above type, whether on mountains for tourism or sport or in a flat terrain for urban transport or on exposition grounds, a number of problems are encountered involving building structures at the terminals of the transportation system, for example, valley and mountain stations as well as intermediary stations. The usual passenger discharge rate of cable-suspended carriers is approximately 3,000 persons per hour and each carrier has usually a capacity of two to twelve persons. This requires a carrier departure every 5 to 10 seconds, dependent upon the size of the carrier. The delay required for disembarking and boarding is approximately 30 to 60 seconds, dependent on the size of the carrier, and the season, since in the mountains, at winter time, the majority of the passengers have to place their skis on ski racks which are generally located externally of the carrier (such as a gondola). Consequently, a substantial number of carriers is located at any given time simultaneously in the disembarking and boarding zones and also, a significant number of passengers has, at any given time, just left the vehicle or is about to board. In order to avoid passenger congestion problems within the stations, it is therefore a requirement that such zones be relatively spacious. Topographic or urban conditions, however, often do not allow the construction of a station which is sufficiently large to house long zones for disembarkation and boarding. Furthermore, such zones would not represent an ideal situation in view of the fact that the passenger traffic undergoes very significant fluctuations dependent on the season, the time of the day, as well as snow and weather conditions.
It has already been attempted to separate the carriers and to pass them through two disembarkation zones and two boarding zones which are situated at the same height level in a parallel relationship between the entrance and the exit sides of the carriers. Such a solution, however, is disadvantageous for this reason: the paths of passengers and carriers necessarily cross one another which increases the risk of accidents and requires more stringent safety measures. In order to avoid the crossing of the paths, it would be feasible to provide a staircase by means of which at least a part of the passengers could gain direct access to the disembarkation zone and the boarding zone. Such a solution, however, requires relatively large space on one level.